The Arab League suspended Syria on Saturday following another day of mass murder of civilians and deserting soldiers by the Assad regime.
Almost all of the 22 members of the Arab League voted to take the unprecedented action against Syria. Yemen was the only opponent outside of Syria itself and Lebanon, which Damascus effectively controls through Hizbullah and pro-Syrian parties.
Secret policy and soldiers loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad murdered at least 40 people, including army deserters, on Friday, bringing the death toll to more than 250 over the past 11 days and well over 3,500 since the uprising began eight months ago.
The suspension of Syria from the Arab League isolates Assad even further, leaving him with Iran and Lebanon as his only regional allies. Even Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who joined the Syrian-Hamas terror axis earlier this year, has turned away from supporting Assad.
He had formally accepted an Arab League proposal earlier this month to stop the violence, but his words were not backed by action. Instead, his brutal suppression against demonstrators has worsened and is turning it into a new cause célèbre for human rights activists who usually target Israel.
Sympathizers to the opposition protests the past two days in Iceland and Canada, as the anti-Assad protest picks up steam.
Assad is engaged in what amounts to a do-or-die struggle, with the cards stacked against him. The Arab League on Saturday threatened to impose its own political and economic sanctions against Damascus.
More significantly, the suspension blackens the image of Assad, who for years has been the champion of pan-Arab nationalism. The Arab League’s action is likely to encourage anti-regime demonstrations.